DECOMPOSE-QSM improves the tracking of iron-related neurodegenerative pathology

DECOMPOSE-QSM method is used to extract a sub-voxel level paramagnetic component susceptibility (PCS) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) related neurodegeneration. Correlation between both PCS and thresholded QSM values with tau PET SUVr are studied. PCS shows stronger association strength with tau PET measures compared to susceptibility measured using only the thresholded positive voxels (positive QSM) in the QSM map in known regions related to tau pathological progression. By separating sub-voxel paramagnetic and diamagnetic sources, DECOMPOSE-QSM provides a more specific and sensitive measure of iron-related pathology.